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FOOD TO BIG? THOUGHT I ALMOST KILLED MY SNAKE. Help!

P

Prattj

New member
My snake is about 15 inches long, about nine months old. I have been feeding him on pinkies for the last nine months but he is very small and has kinda stopped growing so quickly and then stopped eating for just a month straight.. so i was getting kinda desperate and so i decided to feed him a fuzzy for the first time. This fuzzy was on the smaller side. He wasnt interested at all at first- just like the other pre but i got desperate and sprayed it with a nutritional supplement to see if it would work and it did- BUT it took him probably a good 15-20 minutes to get down. He was dragging it around the box and kinda squirming after about ten minutes. Is this normal??? I dont want to choke him!
 
I did this same thing this week with a youngster I thought was ready to move up to the next size prey. She did get it down, though watching her was terrifying, and several days later she is digesting happily.
 
It was a very stressful moment. He got it down and it moving just fine.... but you couldnt miss that lump in his stomach from a mile away! Okay thats a relief that she digested it fine. Did you go with the same pre size next time? Or did you go back down to the normal size?
 
She's still digesting it! I'll back down a little on the size next time, I'm probably going to give her a few extra days between feedings too. Usually she has pooped by now, but she's still got a visible lump.
 
Well mine had not had food in a few weeks so thats probably part of the struggle maybe? How often does yours usually poop after feeding?
 
When moving up a size, it's usual for it to take much longer than usual to swallow and also to sometimes be a bit of a battle. 20 minutes is actually quite fast. Just leave hm in peace to digest - which will also now take longer. Don't worry. He'll get the hang of the new food within a few feeds and he'll be nomming them down fast enough after a few weeks.

As a rough guide, the food should be about one and a half times the width of the body.
 
I have a slow grower he's just about a year now (only as big around as a regular highlighter). He is still only on pinkies. I had bumped him up to 2 pinkies a few months back and he regurged. so i put him back on 1 pink and just this week end he was finally able to keep 2 down. its been a bit of a worry some battle at times. So I feel your concern.

Did you only have yours on 1 pinky? If you find it to nerve racking watching him eat a fuzzie try just getting him to eat 2 pinkies to start. Have you looked at the Munson plan feeding chart?
 
I havent purposely not fed him for a few weeks. He eats every 4-5 days but the last month he has been a pain. He isnt about to shed and everything in right in his tank. I hate it when he doesnt eat, and I tried everything before switching to this. Im so glad to hear that rule of thumb though! I misunderstood.. i thought the rule of thumb was feed them something that is no bigger than the biggest part of their belly. My snake is about as big as a sharpie around.. too skinny? I heard that feeding two pinkies wasnt good so i didnt do it.
 
i got mine off amazon.com for 25.00 including shipping. just a cooking scale that converts to grams.
 
mines not huge i just zero it out with the tupperware contaner on it. think it might be only like an 8 inch diameter.
 
Chip said:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/digital-scales
Click to expand...

I like this one a lot but it was a little expensive after tax and shipping so i just went with the one on amazon. I will update you guys when i find out how much he ways. Is it weird that i call him a he even though i dont know his sex?

I did have another question about feeding though- it has been a week since i fed him that fuzzy last. Should i feed him another fuzzy? Or just switch off fuzzy/ pinkie/ fuzzy?
 
if he's digesting them fine, then I would continue to feed fuzzys. he seems to be doing well :eek:
 
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